A Year of the DSA Transparency Database: What it (Does Not) Reveal About Platform Moderation During the 2024 European Parliament Election
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866916681402548224 |
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| author | Shahi, Gautam Kishore Tessa, Benedetta Trujillo, Amaury Cresci, Stefano |
| author_facet | Shahi, Gautam Kishore Tessa, Benedetta Trujillo, Amaury Cresci, Stefano |
| contents | Social media platforms face heightened risks during major political events; yet, how platforms adapt their moderation practices in response remains unclear. The Digital Services Act Transparency Database offers an unprecedented opportunity to systematically study content moderation at scale, enabling researchers and policymakers to assess platforms' compliance and effectiveness. Herein, we analyze 1.58 billion self-reported moderation actions taken by eight large social media platforms during an extended period of eight months surrounding the 2024 European Parliament elections. Our findings reveal a lack of adaptation in moderation strategies, as platforms did not exhibit significant changes in their enforcement behaviors surrounding the elections. This raises concerns about whether platforms adapted their moderation practices at all, or if structural limitations of the database concealed possible adjustments. Moreover, we found that noted transparency and accountability issues persist nearly a year after initial concerns were raised. These results highlight the limitations of current self-regulatory approaches and underscore the need for stronger enforcement and data access mechanisms to ensure that online platforms uphold their responsibility in safeguarding democratic processes. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_06976 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | A Year of the DSA Transparency Database: What it (Does Not) Reveal About Platform Moderation During the 2024 European Parliament Election Shahi, Gautam Kishore Tessa, Benedetta Trujillo, Amaury Cresci, Stefano Computers and Society Emerging Technologies Human-Computer Interaction Social media platforms face heightened risks during major political events; yet, how platforms adapt their moderation practices in response remains unclear. The Digital Services Act Transparency Database offers an unprecedented opportunity to systematically study content moderation at scale, enabling researchers and policymakers to assess platforms' compliance and effectiveness. Herein, we analyze 1.58 billion self-reported moderation actions taken by eight large social media platforms during an extended period of eight months surrounding the 2024 European Parliament elections. Our findings reveal a lack of adaptation in moderation strategies, as platforms did not exhibit significant changes in their enforcement behaviors surrounding the elections. This raises concerns about whether platforms adapted their moderation practices at all, or if structural limitations of the database concealed possible adjustments. Moreover, we found that noted transparency and accountability issues persist nearly a year after initial concerns were raised. These results highlight the limitations of current self-regulatory approaches and underscore the need for stronger enforcement and data access mechanisms to ensure that online platforms uphold their responsibility in safeguarding democratic processes. |
| title | A Year of the DSA Transparency Database: What it (Does Not) Reveal About Platform Moderation During the 2024 European Parliament Election |
| topic | Computers and Society Emerging Technologies Human-Computer Interaction |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.06976 |